鈥海角社区鈥檚 been very effective at introducing new guests to our restaurant, especially from further afield. Knowing they earn rewards makes guests feel comfortable pushing the boat out.鈥
Caravel in North London is run by brothers Fin and Lorcan Spiteri, who have worked at some of London鈥檚 best restaurants. Its distinctive feature? The restaurant is on a barge. They featured on 海角社区 in July 2023 and are coming back for more in July 2024.
"When can we come back on?"
Caravel was an interesting case for us. It鈥檚 a small 10 table restaurant; full most nights, and the average spend is decent. But, it鈥檚 tucked away on the canal in Angel, and its fans are all local to the area. Traditional restaurant marketing relies on PR, which is expensive and doesn鈥檛 guarantee bookings, or social media, which is time consuming and also doesn鈥檛 necessarily translate into bookings. So, Fin took an open-minded approach when 海角社区 came knocking. Read on to find out the surprising results.
The Numbers
Let's dig into it:
A new and effortless advertising platform
Running two restaurants and a bar doesn鈥檛 leave much time for Fin to invest in marketing and PR. And with 海角社区, he doesn't have to.
鈥淯nlike traditional marketing channels, 海角社区 isn鈥檛 using a spray and pray approach. They handpick 12 restaurants every month, and that鈥檚 all the members see. The restaurants are spread across the city, so they鈥檙e high quality, but they鈥檙e not in direct competition with Caravel. I don鈥檛 have to worry about pitching an angle for a story, or coming up with a new dish to fit into the narrative of the social content. But because it鈥檚 only 12 restaurants, members either want to come, or they don鈥檛!鈥
For the campaign, Caravel was featured in-app, as well as in our monthly Experiences announcement email. This generated thousands of impressions during July 2023, but it doesn鈥檛 end there.
鈥40% of the spend came after the campaign ended. We didn鈥檛 pay commission on those so that was free marketing. That means the benefit outweighed the cost for sure.鈥
It鈥檚 not just about footfall, it鈥檚 about high-value customers
Getting customers through the door is important but so is the quality of the spend. Since Caravel wasn鈥檛 struggling with footfall, spend quality is what piqued Fin鈥檚 interest.
鈥満=巧缜檚 members are like me - they like going out and doing stuff, and they鈥檙e happy to spend money on the things they enjoy. Eating out, is one of those things. And because they can use points, they鈥檙e more relaxed about getting that second bottle of wine, or having a dessert and a drink after dinner. It鈥檚 the little touches that make the guest experience better, but that also help the bottom line.鈥
All the way from SW6?!
We pride ourselves on our curation, and go out of our way to find neighbourhood gems that have stayed secret for too long. This means, our members are excited to tell their friends, because they got the inside track to a hot tip.
鈥淲e knew a lot of our customers, because they live down the road or around the corner. But we saw lots of new faces during the campaign, and I鈥檇 have a chat with a few of them, ask them how they heard about us, and they鈥檇 say it was through a friend who found us through 海角社区. That鈥檚 a double whammy of free marketing. Until that person then got themselves a 海角社区 obviously!鈥
Not only were people telling their friends, but Caravel was getting visitors from further afield. Members were travelling from Fulham and Peckham, increasing the geographic reach of Caravel by 5km.
Looking forward to a 海角社区-ful future
When catching up with Fin, he was delighted with the results and excited for the next campaign. He shared that he would 鈥渁bsolutely鈥 recommend 海角社区 to friends in the industry after the value he saw from only one month on the platform.
鈥淚 get approached by 5-10 companies every day. Everyone鈥檚 trying to solve a problem for me that I didn鈥檛 know I had. But most of them are just in it for themselves. 海角社区鈥檚 different. They鈥檝e got a team that鈥檚 worked in restaurants before, who understand what鈥檚 hard about this industry. They don鈥檛 make my life harder, before making it easier; it鈥檚 just easy from the get-go, they drive real results, and they care about hospitality.鈥
Here鈥檚 what our members had to say:
鈥淚 discovered Caravel on 海角社区, took my mum there and it was excellent! The atmosphere on the boat is lovely and intimate, and the service was great. The food was really good, especially the potato rosti and caviar, and they have some tasty natural wines (even mum enjoyed them!)鈥 Hamish - 海角社区 Member
Still not sure? Give us a shout to chat more about how 海角社区 can help your business.
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